Drawer suspension slide



Allg. 21, L PIPE DRAWER SUSPENSION SLIDE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb. 9,1959 HQ t 342772@ 64H $528 2 I. 5&5 35%6 077/282 5U.

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INVENToR. JOHN PUDE ATTORNEYS Allg. 21, 1 PIPE DRAWER SUSPENSION SLIDEFiled Feb. 9, 1959 INVENTOR. JOH N Pl PE This invention relates tosuspension slide mountings for iile drawers and the like. Moreparticularly, it relates to a telescopable suspension slide moun-tingwherein the intermediate extension rail or suspension member is mountedon disks.

Suspension slides for iile drawers and the like are generallywell-known. Usually, such comprise a stationary or case rail, a railattached to, and travelable with, the drawer and a-n intermediateextension rail or suspension member between the first two mentionedrails. When the drawer is moved in or out, the extension railautomatically travels in the same direction as the drawer but at abouthalf the speed while maintaining the drawer in a horizontal position.Usually, means are provided for minimizing -frictional contact betweenthe rails.

One such construction minimizes frictional contact by incorporating ballbearings between the rail members. The ball bearing type of constructionhas a disadvantage, however, in that very close tolerances are required.Unless the ball bearings are centered fairly precisely and accurately,the suspension slide will bind under use conditions. Obviously, suchprecision leads to high cost of labor and materials in constructingdrawer suspension slides of this type.

An object of this invention is to develop a drawer suspension slidewithout ball bearings.

A primary object of this invention is to develop a drawer suspensionslide in which rictional Contact of the rail members is at a minimum.

A specific object of this invention is to provide a drawer suspensionslide wherein the rail members thereof travel relative to each other ondisks.

These and other objects which may appear as this speciiication proceedsare achieved by this invention which shall be described with referenceto the drawings. A brief description of the drawings is as follows.

FIG. l is a perspective view of a tile drawer cabinet having drawersmounted on drawer suspension slides in accordance with a preferredembodiment of this invention with one drawer being yfully closed andlanother being fully extended.

FIG. 2 is aside elevational view of a fully extended drawer suspensionslide of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of a fully closed drawer suspension slide ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the case rail member of the drawersuspension slide of FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the lines 5 5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the lines 6 6 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the lines 7-7 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 8 is a sectional View taken along the lines 8-8 of FIG. 3.

FG. 9 is a sectional view of the front portion at a drawer suspensionslide showing a modification of the drawer rail member.

In general, the drawings disclose a drawer suspension slide in which thesuspension or extension rail member is mounted on normally verticaldisks. Horizontal frictional contact between the extension rail memberand the case rail member and between the extension rail member `and thedrawer rail member is minimized by adaptited States Fatent Patented Aug.21, 1962 ing the normally horizontal rail tracks on which the diskstravel and the disks so that there is side bearing between said tracksand said disks.

Specifically, FIG. 1 of the drawings discloses a le cabinet 2i?. Thecabinet 20 comprises a case 21 and one or more drawers 22. Associatedwith each drawer 22 is a right side suspension slide 23 and a left sidesuspension slide 24. The top drawer 22, it will be observed, is shownfor purposes of illustra-tion in the fully extended postion while adrawer 22 underneath the top drawer is shown for purposes ofillustration in a fully closed position.

Each suspension slide 23 and 24 is substantially alike except that oneis a mirror image of the other. Consequently, for the sake ofconvenience, the suspension slide embodiment of FIG. l shall bedescribed with reference to the right side suspension slide 23.

The right side suspension slide 23, shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, comprises astationary or case rail member 25, an extension rail 26 and a drawerrail 27. Also involved are a spacer member 23 and a drawer check member29.

The case ra-il 25 (FIGS. 4 and 6) has in cross-section the general formof a channel. It has a web portion 30 which is usually fastened as byweldment's to the inside of the case 2i as shown in FIG. l. At thebottom of the web portion 30 there is provided a bottom leg or track 31.The track 31, it will -be observed, has a side wall 32. Along the top of:the web portion 30 there is provided an upper leg or track 34 whichlikewise has a. side wall 35. At the end of the upper track 34 there isprovided an upwardly extending ilange member 38. At the bottom of thelower track 31 there is provided a downwardly extending flange 39.Adjacent the front end of the case rail 25 the upper track 34 bendsupwardly and backwardly (FIGS. 1 4) to form a clip 40. Inserted in theclip 43 is a bumper member 41 made out of a resilient material, such asa soft rubber and the like. Approximately midway of the ends of the caserail 25, the lower track 31 has a dip or concave section 42. See FIG. 4.The function of the concave section 42 of the bottom track 31 will bedescribed hereinafter. At the front end of the case rail 25 it will -beobserved from FIGS. 3 and 4 that the bottom track 31 has a flared outsection 43. The function of the flared out section 43 will be describedhereinafter.

The extension rail 26 in crosssection has the general form of a channel(FIGS. 2 and 6-8). It has a channel web 45 disposed adjacent to, but outof contact with, the channel web 3i) of the case rail 25. yAt the top ofthe web 45 the extension rail 26 is provided with a top leg 46 with anupwardly extending ange 47 at the end thereof. The upper leg 46 ispositioned underneath, and out of Contact with, the upper 'track 34 ofythe case rail 25. The upwardly extending flange member 47 of thesuspension member 26 is 'arranged adjacent yto the upwardly extendingange member `38 `of the case rail. Here, there may be some horizontalcontact ibut, in such event, it -is preferred tha-t the contact `belirnted to -the top edge of the flange member 47. The upwardly extendingiiange port-ion 47 is also disposed adjacent to vthe side lwall of thedrawer 22. Here, however, no horizontal Contact between (the ilange andthe wall should be permitted. At the 'bottom of ythe web portion 45 ofthe extension rail 26 there is provided a normally horizontallydisposed, ou-twardly `extending leg 4S at the end of which there aredownwardly extending flange means 49. The bottom leg 48 Iis positionedabove, and out of contact with lthe plane of the bottom track 31 of thecase rail 25.

The extension rai-l 26 is mounted on the case rail 25 by means ofnormally, vertically disposed, rotatable disks disposed on the normally,horizontally dispo-sed, case rail 'tracks 31 and 34. See FIGS. 2 and 3.

With reference to the upper track 34, the extension rail 26 has alongitudinal opening 5? in the end region of the upper leg 46. Disposedlthrough the opening is a rotatable disk 5-2 rotatably mounted lon ahorizontally disposed shaft 53. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 8, one end ofthe shaft 53 is secured to the web portion 45 while the other end of theshaft is mounted on a downwardly extending ltab portion 511 of the leg46. As shown in FIG. 8, the circumferential periphery of the disk 52 isin contact with the upper ytrack 34' of the case rail 25. Moreover, asshown in FIG. 8, the side wall portion 35 of the upper ltrack 34 bearsagainst Ithe side edge of the disk 52.

With reference yto 'the lower track 31, `there are provided three disks.One disk 56 is disposed frontwardly of -the upper di-sk 52, one disk 61is disposed midway of the ends of Ithe extension rail 26 and one disk 65is disposed adjacent the fron-t end of 'the extension rail. Toaccomplish this, the lower leg 48 of lthe exten-sion rail 26 is providedwith a longitudinal opening 54 generally frontwardly of the upper disk52. Positioned in the opening 54 is Ithe rear rotatable bottom disk 56mounted 4on a shaft 57. One end of -the shaft 57 is secured -to a flangemeans 49 while the other end of the shaft 57 is secured to a downwardlyextending tab portion 91. Midway of the ends of lthe extension rail 26Ithere is provided an intermediate longitudinal opening 5S in the lowerleg 48. Disposed in the intermediate opening 58 is the intermediate disk`61. The disk 61 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 62, one end of which issecured to downwardly extending flange means 49, Athe other end of whichis -secured to a downwardly extending tab por- 'tion 60. In the frontend Iregion of the lower leg 48 there lis provided a longitudinallyextending front opening 63 with .the lfront disk 65 disposed in theopening. Similarly, the disk 65 .is rotatably mounted on a shaft 66-secured fto the downwardly extending ange 49 and a downwardly extendingtab 64.

When the suspension `slide 23 is in closed position, the circumferentialperipheries of each of the .bottom disks 56, 61 and 65 are in contactwith ythe bottom track 31 of the case rail 25. In such position (FIG. 3)the intermediate bottom dii-sk 61 is seated in the concave section 42 ofthe bottom track 311. For this reason the ou-tside diameter of ttheintermediate disk 61 is larger than the outside diameter of the rearbottom disk 56 and the front bottom -disk 65. In `order 'to enable Ithedisk 61 to drop into the concave lsection 42 the inside diameter of thehub of the intermediate bottom disk 61 is larger (FIG. 6), preferably bya distance corresponding .to Ithe depth of the concave section 42, thanthe outside diameter of its shaft 62 in the hub region. The insidediameter of the :hub of the rear bottom disk 56 (IFIG. 7) issubstantially larger, but preferably not as great as in the case of disk61, Ithan the outside diameter of its shaft 57 in the hub region. Thisallows Ithe rear bottom disk S6 to drop into the concave section 42 whenthe drawer is partially withdrawn. The intermediate extension slide 26is free to move vertically to compensate ifor .the dilerences indiameter of the disks 56, 61, and 65 and allow free movement of thedrawer. In fthe case of the front botrom disk 65 and -the ltop disk 52,-the hub diameters are preferably only suciently greater than the shaftdiameters to permit free rotation of the respective disks on theirshafts. To assure this the hubs of these two disks 65 and 52 areprovided with, for example, nylon bushings.

Moreover, each of 'the bottom disks 65, 56 and 61 when dispo-sed yon thebottom track 31 not only con-tact the horizontal portion of the bottomtrack 3:1 but also bear sidewi-se against the side fwall portion 32thereof.

The extension rail 26 also comprises an auxiliary disk assembly. Thisassembly comprises a race 68 fastened to the web portion 45 andextending along the web por- -tion 45 from a point rearwardly of therear bottom disk 56 to a point frontwardly of the intermediate bottomdisk 61. The race 63 is provided with a rear detent means 69 and at `thefront 'end thereof a tab deten-t means 70. Slidably mounted on the race68 is `an auxiliary disk 73. The `slide mount-ing of the disk 73`comprises a round retention plate 71 disposed within ythe race 68 andhaving -a normally horizontal shaft 72 on which the auxiliary d-isk 73is secu-red.

The extension rail 26 also comprises at the front end thereof a frontbumper member 75. This member is formed by an upward extension of theweb portion 45 and a resilient shield inserted on said upper extension.

Midway lbetween the rear bottom disk 56 and die intermediate bottom disk61 and secured to an ofiset portion of the Iupwardly extending flange 47of the extension rail 26 is an `overlapping check member 77. The checkmember 77 is secured `to .the rlange 7 and overlaps the upper flangemember 38 of ,the case rail 25. The check member 77 is in the form of anL-ba-r with the iiart .surface of lthe leg of the L `facing the bumper41 of the lcase rail 25, and in horizontal alignment therewith. Thecheck in combination with the bumper mem ber 41 `of the case rail 25functions to limit the member 77 to fthe case rail 25. In this regard,it will be observed in FIG. 2 that at the for-wardmos-t limit of travelof the extension rail 26 relative to the case rail 25, Ithe intermediatebottom disk `61 is positioned on .the bottom track 31 in the flared outsection 43 thereof. r[The check member 77 also functions as a means forretaining the extension rail 126 mounted position on rthe ca-se rail 25,when the drawer 22 and accompanying drawer rail 27 and spacer means 28is yfully extended and when such is disrnounted from fthe `cabinet 20.

The extension rail 26 yalso comprises at the rear end thereof a guidemember 79. As can be seen by FIG. 7, Ithis guide member is :in the formof a 'tab extending laterally and Ithen downwardly from the upwardlyextending ilange 47 over the upper ange member 38 of the case rail 25.rlhe guide member 79 also functions to retain the extension rail 26 inthe case rail 25, when the drawer :22 is dismounted and when such is infully extended position.

The drawer rail -27 in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-8 is in the formof a Zabar. One leg of the Z is fastened as by way of weldments to theside wall of .fthe drawer 22. In position the web of the Z-bar ishorizontally disposed Ion top of the bottom disks 56, 61 and 65. 'Iheauxilary disk 73, it twill be seen in FIGS. 2 and 7 is in contact withthe -top surface of the web. The other leg S1 of the Zibar is disposedadjacent lto the web 45 .of Ithe extension rail 26 and between Ithebottom disks. However, this leg 81 is not in `contact with the web 45.On fthe other hand, it preferably is in side ibear-ing with ythe bottomdisks 56, 61 and 65.

The spacer means 2S is disposed below the drawer rail 27. Itis adaptedto bear sidewise against .the upper portions of 'the bottom disks 56, 61and 65. As shown in FIGS. 1 8, the spacer means 2S is in the form of alongitudinally extending, protrusion of the side wall of the drawer 22.

In fthe modication illustrated in FIG. 9, lthe spacer mean-s 28 is anintegral part of the drawer rail 27a. In this embodiment, the `drawerrail 27a is lin the Igeneral form of an angle bar. The outwardlyextending leg of the angle bar corresponds to the web portion of the Zbar formo-f the drawer rail. Although not necessary, Ithere maypreferably be provided a normally downwardly extending flange 8'1 at-the end .of the outwardly extending leg of the `angle bar correspondingto -the downwardly extending leg 81 of the Z. The protrusion 2S isformed by an `outward `bend in the leg of the angle bar 27a fastened ttothe drawer 22.

In either embodiment, 'the spacer means 28 functions to localizehorizontal frictional Contact of the drawer 22 with'the suspension slide23 to the spacer means 28 and the sides of the bottom disks. It alsofunctions to assist in establishing and maintaining the side bearing ofthe disks against fthe upper and lower Itracks o-f the case rail 25, andthe outer flange or leg S1 of the drawer rails 27 or 27a.

The drawer check 2 is :in the for-rn of an L bar. It is mounted on .theside wall of the drawer 22 with the stern of the L normally verticallydisposed and fastened thereto as by -weldment The leg `of the L facesforward and is in horizontal alignment with the front bumper 75.Together, the drawer check 29 and the Ifron-t bumper 75 function ytoIlimit the forward travel of the drawer 22 relative to the extensionrail 26. Preferably the limit lof forward travel of the drawer 22relative to the extension rail 26 should be where lthe back end of thedrawer rail 27 is adjacent the intermediate bottom disk 61 and still incontact therewith (FIG. 2). Relative to the case rail 25 and thus to thecabinet 2li, the limit of forward travel of the drawer 22 is preferablyat least to the point where the Iback end of the drawer 22 is in ftheregion of ythe front of the cabinet 20.

To `open `the `drawer suspension slide 23, one need only to pull thedrawer 22 and thus the drawer rail 27 out of closed positon until theextension rail check member 77 and the bumper member 41 Contact eachother and the drawer check 29 and front bumper '75 contact one another,see FIG. 2. The yforward ltravel of the drawer rail 27 causes theauxiliary disk 73 to travel forwardly in the race @S until it is stoppedby the -front tab detent 7% or until ythe drawer check 29 strikes thefro-nt bumper 75, which ever first occurs. In either case, when thedrawer check 29 strikes the lfront bumper 75, the rear portion of theldrawer rail 27 will be supported on the front bottom disk 65 landpreferably on the intermediate bottom disk 61. The auxiliary disk 73bearing against the top of the drawer frail 27 prevents the drawer rail27 and thus the drawer 22 from -toppling over under the weigh-t of thedrawer 22 and drawer rail 27.

To close the drawer suspension slide 23 and thus the drawer 22, one needonly to push ythe drawer 22 and thus the drawer rail 27 until theextension rail 26 and drawer rail 27 are in closed posit-ion as shown inFlG. 3. As already mentioned, in the closed posi-tion, ythe intermediatedisk 61 is seated in ,the concave section 42 of the bottom track 31.This `arrangement enables the drawer 22 lto be slammed shut wit-houtimmediately popping out. The flared-out section 42 of the lower :track31 functions to guide the front lower disk 65 into the lower track 31even if there is a minor amount .of horizon-tal sway of the drawer 22during the closing thereof.

The drawer suspension slides 23 and 24 have a feature of advantage inthat a drawer 22 mounted thereon can be removed when desired andreinstalled when desired. To remove a drawer 22 from the cabinet 20, thedrawer is pulled out to the limits of travel, as determined by theextension rail check member 77 and bumper member 41 combination and thedrawer check 29 and front bumper 75 combination. The front end of thedrawer 22 is then raised until the drawer check 29 clears the top of thefront bumper 75. The drawer 22 is finally pulled further out until thedrawer rail 27 clears the front disk 65 of each extension rail 26. Toreinstall the drawer 22, all that need be done is to seat the back endof each drawer rail 27 of the drawer 22 on the respective front disks 65of the extension rail. The drawer is then pushed backwardly until thedrawer check 29 reaches the front bumper 75, lifted until the drawercheck 29 clears the top of the front bumper 75, pushed forwardly andthen lowered downwardly.

Under normal use conditions, regardless of whether the drawer 22 beempty, partially loaded or fully loaded, there is substantially nofrictional contact between the case rail 25 and the extension rail 26and no frictional contact between the extension rail 26 and drawer rail27 of each suspension slide 2-3 and 24. The disks, the side walls 32 and-:t5 of the case rail tracks, the flange 81 of the drawer rail and thespacer member 28 cooperate to establish and maintain the rail members ofeach suspension slide in spaced apart relationship. Moreover, theminimal horizontal frictional contact that is involved in the suspensionslides 23 and 24 is confined to these structural members, the abuttingsurfaces of which are small in area and travel with a radial motionrelative to each other which further reduces horizontal frictionalcontact.

Thus, there is provided a drawer suspension slide of sturdy and ruggedconstruction. Tlhe parts of the drawer suspension slide need not bemanufactured with any great precision. A minimum number of working partsare involved. Most importantly, the drawer suspension slide operatessmoothly and quietly without binding and with only a minimum ofhorizontal frictional contact in the slide suspension.

As this invention may be embodied in several forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, the embodimentsjust described are thereof 'illustrative and not restrictive, since thescope of the inven tion is defined by the appended claims rather than bythe description preceding them, and all changes that fall within themetes :and bounds of the claims, or that form their functional as wellas conjointly cooperative equivalents, are therefore intended to beembraced by those claims.

I claim:

l. An extensible drawer slide assembly adapted to operate in ahorizontal position, comprising: a pair of case rails; pull drawer meansincluding a drawer and a pair of opposite drawer rails adjacent saidcase rails; a pair of intermediate extension rails positioned betweenthe respective case rails and drawer rails; first roller disk meansbetween each of said case rails and the respective intermediate rails,and a second roller disk means between each of said intermediate railsand the respective drawer rails; each of said disk means beingvertically disposed to rotate in the direction of said rails; saiddrawer rails having roller disk bearing surfaces corresponding in shapeto the periphery of said first roller disk means and riding thereon; andelongated, horizontal, deformed bearing surface protuberances extendingout of said drawer means, spaced from said bearing surfaces, andengaging the inner side -walls of said first disk means to reducefrictional contact of said drawer means with said case rails andintermediate rails.

2. The assembly in claim l wherein said case rails each have anelongated deformed wall portion projecting into Contact with the outerside walls of said first disk means, thereby cooperating with saidbearing surface protuberances to stabilize said drawer means as well asreducing frictional contact.

3. The assembly in claim 1 wherein said elongated bearing surfaceprotuberances are bent portions of said drawer rails.

4. An extensible drawer slide means adapted to be fixed in a horizontalposition comprising: a case rail member, a drawer rail member and anintermediate extension rail member slidably mounted therebetween; saidcase rail member having a lower iiange extending in the direction towardsaid drawer rail member; said drawer rail member having a support flangeextending toward said case rail; disk means between the case rail angeand the intermediate extension rail and between the drawer rail flangeand the intermediate rail, said disk means being disposed on an axisnormal to said case rail and being operatively associated -with saidcase rail member, drawer rail member and intermediate rail member sothat said intermediate rail member is supported on said case rail andsaid drawer member is supported on -said intermediate extension railmember with relative extendible movement therebetween; said supportflange of said drawer rail surface corresponding in shape to and ridingon the periphery of said disk means between said case rail andintermediate rail; and an elongated horizontal bearing surface extendingfrom said drawer rail, spaced from the said surface of said drawer railKsupport flange, protruding in a direction away from said drawer railmember toward said intermediate extension rail member and engaging saiddisk means thereby minimizing the frictional contact between said drawerrail member and said intermediate extension rail member.

5. An extensible drawer slide assembly adapted to operate in ahorizontal position, comprising: a pair of case rails; pull drawer meansincluding a drawer and a pair of opposite drawer rails adjacent saidcase rails; a pair of intermediate extension rails positioned betweenthe respective case rails and drawer rails; rst roller disk meansbetween each of said case rails and the respective intermediate rails,and a second roller disk means between eaoh of said intermediate railsand the respective drawer rails; each of said disk means beingvertically disposed to rotate in the direction of said rails; andelongated, horilzontal, deformed bearing surface protuberances formedout of bent portions of said drawer and extending out of said drawermeans into contact with the inner side walls of said rst disk means toreduce frictional contact of said drawer means with said case rails andintermediate

